Why does first-gen status matter?
First generation college students (first-gens) have a much different experience at a school like the University of Michigan than their continuing-generation peers. They face unique challenges but also bring a unique set of skills and talents. First-gens often come from under-resourced schools where their full intellectual capacities were not fully developed. They also may not have learned the cultural competencies related to being a college student – understanding a course syllabus, knowing the importance of office hours, or even what a credit-hour means – that most college students have learned from the family or friends who went to college before them. This means that while they are learning the materials for your class, they are also engaged in another learning process: how to be a college student. First-gens typically have lower in-class GPAs in their freshmen year as they undergo this process. By their junior year, however, there is no difference in their in-class GPA from continuing-gen students. Of course, that is only the case if they do not drop out. This tells us two things. First, the disparity in freshman GPA is not an intellectual difference. If it were, they would never catch up. Second, the first-gen experience is salient for their ongoing success. So what can you do?
What can you do to help first-gens in your classes?
You don’t necessarily have to teach your classes any differently in order to positively impact your first-generation college students. Furthermore, the things that benefit first-gens really benefit all of your students. Below are some simple things that you can implement in class to help your first-gen students. For a more complete list of things you can do, read the report Making Sure They Make It! Best Practices for Ensuring the Success of First-Generation College Students.
- Be clearer about course expectations and directions for assignments and exams than you might otherwise think necessary. To a larger degree than their peers, first-gens are learning how college works while taking classes. You can make this process easier. For instance, when introducing your syllabus, you might briefly explain that the syllabus is the student’s guide to the entire course.
- Remember that intelligence and learning are not fixed characteristics and then remind students. In learning course content, students are also learning how to learn. Like anyone, students get better at this over time. However, first-gens disproportionately feel that one bad exam or one low paper grade means that they don’t belong in college, especially if they are new freshmen or transfer students. You can save a potential dropout by reminding them that intelligence is not fixed and that they are learning how to learn while learning their course content.
- Express your support of first-gens. First-gens often feel that they’re figuring out college all on their own. Just knowing that their instructors understand that they have a different experience of college life and support them in that experience can be incredibly helpful.
- Encourage or incentivize your office hours. As an instructor, you know that office hours are invaluable to students. First-gens, however, often think that going to office hours means that they are dumb or need help that their peers do not need. By encouraging or incentivizing office hours, you get them in without the potential stigma. One way of doing this is to give them some participation points or minor extra credit for coming to office hours in the first few weeks. If they come once, they are more likely to come again when they need it.
- Connect first-gens to university resources. The university provides an incredible number of resources for students. These include accommodations for learning, writing resources at the Sweetland Writing Institute and the English Language Institute, the Maize and Blue Cupboard for food insecurity, CAPS and Wolverine Wellness for health and wellness, as well as SAPAC for help with sexual or intimate partner violence.
- Remind them to get the most out of college. The content we teach in our classes is only part of the value offered by a place like the University of Michigan. Equally valuable are the connections they can make with top scholars in their field, connections with their peers – who will be the leaders of tomorrow, and a myriad of opportunities regarding research, leadership, business, and social justice. Remind first-gens that there is so much more here than simply classes and grades.
Although these suggestions will help your first-generation college students, they will likely help continuing-generation college students as well. If you want to hear it from the students themselves, below is a video where they explain the importance of the first-gen identity.
Contact
Dr. Matthew Sullivan,
SOUL Program Director
(msulli@umich.edu)
Jill Hoppenjans,
Sociology Academic Program Manager
(soc-acad.prog.mgr@umich.edu)